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Lighting for Documentaries
Thursday, Sept. 24, 1:00 PM
Explore various lighting techniques and equipment used for documentary-style on-camera interviews. We’ll demonstrate classical three-point lighting, the run and gun, one light interview as well as the available light indoor interview. If conditions allow, we’ll also demonstrate the exterior naturally lit interview. Light control technique is an often-overlooked aspect of video lighting. Join us as we discuss how to control and block light in interviews.
Instructor: Warren Gentry
Warren Gentry graduated from the UNC-Wilmington in 1976 and began his filmmaking career in 1977 upon completing the Professional Filmmaker’s Workshop at NYU. He’s photographed hundreds of projects over the years, including PBS’s Frontline, and has traveled to 24 countries to document humanitarian efforts. He’s had the pleasure to serve as director of photography on four regional Emmy-winning documentaries, including “Alamance,” “Dr. Frank: The Life and Times of Dr. Frank Porter Graham,” “Continental, Ohio,” and “The Editor and the Dragon.” In recent years, Gentry has concentrated on long-form documentaries that explore culture, history and society, including: “February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four,” “Melungeon Voices,” and “Down Home.”
A Film Scoring Workshop
Friday, Sept. 25, 1:00PM
Step 1 – Register Now >>
Step 2 – On Sept. 25, after registering, Music in Picture Workshop link> to access segment
Step 3 – Go to Live Q&A at 1:50PM via WebEx confirmation email
Workshop sponsored by Eventide with Giveaways during the Q&A!
This immersive workshop is designed to educate directors and producers on how to effectively communicate with composers. It is vital for up-and-coming composers who can fall into the pitfalls of convoluted themes and over-scored cues that don’t serve the story. Some of the topics we’ll discuss include:
● Themes & Thematic Development
● Instrumentation & Arranging
● Temp Tracks Do’s & Don’ts
● Scoring From a Script
● Dissection of a Cue for an Existing Film
Instructor: Evan Hodges
Evan Hodges has always been enamored with composition and film scores, a passion that gripped him when he first saw “Star Wars” as a child and knew he wanted to create the iconic sounds that can define a generation. In recent years, he’s scored musicals, video games, and more than 40 feature-length and short films. With his background in jazz and its highly improvisational component, he’s able to adapt quickly and seamlessly score both simple and advanced thematic musical cues appropriate for various scenes. In 2017, Hodges scored the feature, “The Canadoo,” and was Emmy-nominated in 2018 for PBS documentary feature, “My Dear Children.” Hodges is a graduate of Georgia State University with a bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies.
The fine folks at Eventide have provided three state-of-the-art plugins for us to give away to workshop attendees during our Q&A segment. Since 1971, Eventide has revolutionized the technology that artists use to record with thanks to the H910 Harmonizer, Instant Phaser, and recent favorite Stompboxes and plugins. Imagine your next film’s score using Eventide.
Blackhole® (msrp $199) – A reverb as big as the cosmos, Blackhole can create haunting echoes and otherworldly ambience.
Crystals (msrp $99) – Iconic Eventide effect with twin reverse pitch shifters, reverse delay and reverb. This plugin excels at adding life to synths, guitar, and vocals making them sound huge and majestic.
ShimmerVerb (msrp $99) – Massively lustrous reverb effect with parallel pitch shifters to add ethereal layers and dreamy ambiance to guitars, keys, synths, samples, and vocals.
Screenwriting Masterclass
Saturday, Sept. 26, 10:00 AM
Take your screenwriting to the next level and learn alongside pros who know what makes a great, make-able screenplay. Attendees will learn tools that pros use to create stronger concepts and scenes. Bring an idea or concept for a feature or pilot screenplay and the first few pages of that script. All experience levels are welcome.
Instructors: Joy Goodwin & Ron Thompson
Emmy-award winner Joy Goodwin serves as chair of the MFA Screenwriting program at the UNC School of the Arts. She has screenplays in development with directors Debra Granik (“Winter’s Bone”) and Nicholas Ma (“Won’t You Be My Neighbor”) and has been named a 2020 Film Independent Screenwriting Fellow, a 2020 Tribeca Sloan Grant winner, a 2020 Athena List winner, and a 2019 Austin Film Festival Feature Comedy finalist. Goodwin has developed and co-produced films that have won Golden Globe, Sundance and Spirit Awards, and have been distributed by Lionsgate, Fox Searchlight, HBO Films, ABC and Focus, among others. She’s written, produced and directed documentary television for ABC, ESPN, NBC, A&E, and The History Channel. She’s a former theater critic and reporter for The New Yorker and The New York Times.
Ron Stacker Thompson has had an impressive career as producer on films such as “A Rage In Harlem, “Deep Cover,” “The Cemetery Club,” “Sister Act 2” and “Hoodlum.” In television, he wrote and produced “America’s Dream,” an HBO Special nominated for nine Cable Ace Awards, winning two for Best Writing and Best Producing of a Dramatic Series/Special. The film starring Danny Glover and Wesley Snipes, and based on short stories by Maya Angelou, Richard Wright and John Henrik Clarke, was also honored with an NAACP Image Award for Best Television Movie or Mini-Series. Thompson also wrote “Nat King Cole: Loved in Return” for A&E Network’s “Biography,” and “Funny Valentines,” starring Alfre Woodard and Loretta Devine for BET/Universal.
Thompson also has a distinguished background in theatre. He produced/directed over 50 plays as founder of the Oakland Ensemble Theatre. He’s directed national productions starring Della Reese, Ted Lange and Yolanda King. Thompson’s also written/directed productions at The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Apollo Theater, and The National Black Theatre Festival. His most recent works include REJOICE! A Holiday Musical Celebration, and Douglass/Dunbar, a historical musical based on Frederick Douglass and Paul Laurence Dunbar. Thompson is currently artistic director of the Willingham Theater in Yadkinville, N.C., and chairs the Screenwriting Department at UNC School of the Arts.
